Comments on Our Loudoun Schools: Successful Advocacy at LCPS

I have been sending my kids for a couple of years ...

2008-03-27T10:40:00.000-04:00

I have been sending my kids for a couple of years now and I feel like the levels and standards are diminishing with the admisnstrative staff. They are not at all required to be friendly and respectful to everyone who enters. There are some of us who spend long hours voulunteering and still do not get any respect from the school administration. They teach our children that they should respect self others and the school but they dont seem to apply the same tools to themselves. SAD is it not?

I'm with Eric. It seems we are optimizing for peop...

2008-01-29T15:32:00.000-05:00

I'm with Eric. It seems we are optimizing for people that have been driven to react in a vigorous way.

If transparency was as vigorous, if the process was more amenable to taxpayers, the distance between spender and payer would diminish.

Sorry but doesn't it strike you as odd that it tak...

2008-01-23T09:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry but doesn't it strike you as odd that it takes such a herculian effort to make every little change (even to get the attention of a SB member)? What you are saying is if you can't attend committee meetings, organize other citizens to support your idea, put up the "big show" during public comment, etc. then your idea is not good enough for serious consideration.

And I know that the SB member can't handle and evaluate every idea. Frankly, if staff were more open to actually changing and improving the way things are done, we the citizens could trust them to honestly evaluate and promote our ideas. As it stands, every change to the system will almost certainly have to overcome the administration's attempts to derail it. THAT is the reason every idea has to be vetted through the process you outlined and THAT is the reason nothing new is ever really done at LCPS.

Having locked horns several times with Dr. Hatrick and staff and having done EXACTLY what you outline several times (successfully) I know of what I speak.

Regarding the research, it is true that it isn't p...

2008-01-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

Regarding the research, it is true that it isn't possible for Joe or Jane Citizen to get all of the information that comes at the request of a Board member. It would be entirely impractical for the LCPS Administration to function as the research department for the public at large. I do think that in general people at LCPS want to be helpful. It is completely fair to ask your Board member to find out information for you as well, but expect them to act as a filter and not just a lever.

As for becoming a politician and building a coalition, again it is true that a good idea is a good idea and shouldn't need a networked extrovert to be heard. Nonetheless the truth is that 20 people coming forward are going to make a bigger impression than one. The points I laid out were not minimum requirements for advocacy, they were what you can do above and beyond an email to your representative, and I suspect that they are fairly universal for local government anywhere.

Some ideas require research that citizens can't ge...

2008-01-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

Some ideas require research that citizens can't get just by picking up the phone. School administrators might jump to satisfy the request of a board member but they don't do that for a parent with a idea they oppose.

Asking anyone with a suggestion for how to improve public education to first become a politician and build a coalition also seems over the top. If people could do that they'd have your job and be implementing policy themselves. Just because someone isn't an extrovert or doesn't have a political base doesn't mean their concerns or ideas should be dismissed.

[I'll echo the appreciation for this blog and for getting the budget materials online.]

Such a great post. You lay out how your constituen...

2008-01-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

Such a great post. You lay out how your constituents can be more effective advocates for their own causes. You have created quite a resource with your blog.

Thanks for the info - if you could advocate that t...

2008-01-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the info - if you could advocate that the rest of the school board relay their thoughts and activities like you do via blogging, that would also help in the dialogue. It's quite refreshing, and another good forum to get questions answered and elicit support from similar-minded individuals, without having to make the traffic-congested drive to Leesburg.